Living as Mapmakers: Charting a Course with Children Guided by Parent Knowledge

While teacher knowledge is well-researched and conceptualized, parent knowledge remains largely unstudied. In response, this book details Pushor’s conceptualization of parent knowledge, the unique knowledge that arises from the lived experiences of being a parent, knowledge that is relational, bodied and embodied, intuitive, intimate, and uncertain. Drawing from her narrative inquiry into parent knowledge, Pushor shares and unpacks the stories of one participant as a way to provide a close up view of the parent knowledge a First Nations father held and used in living with and educating his children. Twelve teachers and parents then put forward their individual and contextual experiences immersed in explorations and use of parent knowledge, attending to the questions, How can what parents know enhance schooling experiences for children? How can parent knowledge, used alongside teacher knowledge, inform decisions made in schools and enhance curricular programming and outcomes for children?
Using the metaphor of maps … of mapmaking … of living as mapmakers, this book is a storied account of the new practices in which parents and teachers engaged to enable parent knowledge to guide their work with children. It is an honest and vulnerable account of their journeys. The authors puzzle over the complexities and the successes of their work and the resulting impact on children, parents, and teachers. This book is an invitation to educators and parents to consider how to walk alongside one another, using both teacher and parent knowledge, for the benefit of children’s learning and wellbeing.